Atlantic Free Press - Hard Truths for Hard Timeshttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/The mission of Atlantic Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried public discourse today. Atlantic Free Press provides a new venue for disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.enTue, 03 Mar 2015 15:17:19 PSTFeedCreator 1.7.2http://feeds.feedburner.com/AtlanticFreePress?format=skinChris,Cook,is,the,assistant,editor,of,Atlantic,Free,Press,and,hosts,Gorilla,Radio,airing,live,every,Monday,5,6pm,Pacific,Time,In,Victoria,at,101,9FM,104,3,cable,and,on,the,internet,at,http,//cfuv,uvic,ca,He,also,serves,as,a,contributing,editor,at,tNews & PoliticsSociety & Culture/HistoryReligion & Spirituality/OtherGovernment & Organizations/Nationaleditor@atlanticfreepress.comChris CookChris CooknoChris,Cook,is,the,assistant,editor,of,Atlantic,Free,Press,and,hosts,Gorilla,Radio,airing,live,every,Monday,5,6pm,Pacific,Time,In,Victoria,at,101,9FM,104,3,cable,and,on,the,internet,at,http,//cfuv,uvic,ca,He,also,serves,as,a,contributing,editor,at,tChris Cook is the assistant editor of Atlantic Free Press and hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca He also serves as a contributing editor at thChris Cook is the assistant editor of Atlantic Free Press and hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca He also serves as a contributing editor at the progressive web news site: http://www.pej.org. You can check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media. Some past guests include: M. Junaid Alam, M. Shahid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, David Barsamian, William Blum, Luciana Bohne, William Bowles, Vincent Bugliosi, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Michel Chossudovsky, Diane Christian, Juan Cole, David Cromwell, Murray Dobbin, Jon Elmer, Reese Erlich, Anthony Fenton, Jim Fetzer, Laura Flanders, Chris Floyd, Connie Fogal, Susan George, Stan Goff, Robert Greenwald, Denis Halliday, Chris Hedges, Sander Hicks, Julia Butterfly Hill, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Diana Johnstone, Kathy Kelly, Naomi Klein, Anthony Lappe, Frances Moore Lappe, Jason Leopold, Jeff Leys, Dave Lindorff, Jim Lobe, Jennifer Loewenstein, Wayne Madsen, Stephen Marshall, Linda McQuaig, George Monbiot, Loretta Napoleoni, John Nichols, Kurt Nimmo, David Orchard, Greg Palast, Mike Palecek, Michael Parenti, Robert Parry, Kevin Pina, William Rivers Pitt, Justin Podur, Jack Random, Sheldon Rampton, Paul Craig Roberts, Paul de Rooij, John Ross, Danny Schechter, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, Starhawk, Grant Wakefield, Paul Watson, Bernard Weiner, Mickey Z., Dave Zirin, and many others.53.21676.5500http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/fb_pwrd.gifAtlanticFreePresshttps://feedburner.google.comAtlantic Free Press Closing Doorshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/YO4WBZEVisQ/14004-atlantic-free-press-closing-doors.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:37:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14004-atlantic-free-press-closing-doors.html<div>Dear Readers,</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>It's been six years and over 13,000 articles published by some 250 of the world's finest politically progressive writers - some 20 per cent with Ph.D.s.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>It's been a labour of love for myself, doing my thing to help educate people to ideas that I believe needed to be shared - and some 2.5 million people read articles&nbsp; on this site over the years.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>In 2011 Atlantic Free Press <a href="http://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/CWHONORS2011/35791/" title="" target="_blank">won a Computerworld Honors Laureate for Innovation</a> -&nbsp; honoured for visionary application of IT to promote
positive social, economic and educational change including category
co-winners from NASA and Duke University.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>It's a fitting last act for Atlantic Free Press. And I say finale because I can no longer afford the time to dedicate to AFP with a young family and a career in technology that's just become to big a part of my life to pull the time needed to run this site pro bono. Thanks to all those who helped donate over the years - but this project still cost me money in server bills. I was just not able to make it a commercial viability. </div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>I will of course leave the site up for posterity. If anyone is interested, feel free to contact me. </div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com" title="" target="_blank">Pacific Free Press</a> will live on - edited by Chris Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Please visit him and the writers there and feel free to contact Chris if you would like to write for <a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com" title="" target="_blank">Pacific Free Press</a>. editor@pacificfreepress.com</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com" title=""><img alt="" title="" src="http://atlanticfreepress.com/images/stories/pacificfreepresslogo.png" border="0" height="69" width="500" /></a>&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Best</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Richard Kastelein</div>
<div>EXPATHOS @ GMAIL dot COM</div>
<div><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/expathos%20" title="" target="_blank">http://www.linkedin.com/in/expathos </a><br />
</div>
<div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kastelein%20" title="" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kastelein </a><br />
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14004-atlantic-free-press-closing-doors.html“I Pledge to Discriminate and Support Bigotry, So Help Me God…”http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Zw8hAedje5I/14003-i-pledge-to-discriminate-and-support-bigotry-so-help-me-god-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:50:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14003-i-pledge-to-discriminate-and-support-bigotry-so-help-me-god-.html<div>by Mel Seesholtz Ph.D. </div>
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<w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="66" semihidden="false"<div class="feedflare">
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14003-i-pledge-to-discriminate-and-support-bigotry-so-help-me-god-.htmlEconomic End Times - Lendmanhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/ee3HWIjJBAA/14002-economic-end-times-lendman.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 15 Aug 2011 23:29:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14002-economic-end-times-lendman.html<div>
<div>
<p>by Stephen Lendman</p>
<p>Despite a
deepening global depression, establishment economists are in denial. On
June 9, the Wall Street Journal said those surveyed expected slow,
steady growth through 2011, despite high US unemployment, a housing
depression, European sovereign debt in crisis, and the unreported
insolvency of major French and other banks.</p>
<p>On June
8, testifying before the House Budget Committee, Fed chairman Bernanke
fantasized about 3.5% US growth through 2011, stopping just short of
ruling out the possibility of recession he called &quot;unlikely.&quot;</p>
<p>And in
2007, when equity and housing bubbles peaked, neither he or Greenspan
expressed alarm, destroying their credibility in the process.</p>
<p>Based on
an early August survey, establishment (in bed with Wall Street)
economists now put the chance of &quot;another&quot; downturn at 30%, compared to
15% in May, expecting 2.5% growth over the next year.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Some, in
fact were sanguine, calling America's economy strong, attributing
negative views to a crisis of confidence, not hard reality, signaled by
the August 4 shot across the bow market rout.</p>
<p>Despite a
predictable rebound, it signified much worse to come because conditions
are dire getting worse. Even manipulated data show enough to sound
alarms, highlighted by economists like David Rosenberg.</p>
<p>On
August 15, he expressed surprise about so &quot;little reaction to the
shocking US consumer sentiment data that were released on Friday - the
worst since the tail end of the Jimmy Carter recession era in 1980.&quot;</p>
<p>Moreover,
consumer spending is weak even with suspect upward revisions. In
addition, &quot;(n)ew mortgage and refinancing loan volumes fell 19% in Q2
to&quot; a three-year low. Further, auto buying plans declined to a decade
low, likely headed much lower as economic conditions deteriorate. Other
big ticket buying plans also dropped to 2008-09 depths when the economy
falling off a cliff seemed possible.</p>
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14002-economic-end-times-lendman.htmlInterview Interview with Abolghasem Bayyenat on Iran-West relations, the politics of Israel's ...http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/2XK0dZHxhz8/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Jul 2011 07:11:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.html<div>by Kourosh Ziabari</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>Abolghasem Bayyenat is an independent political analyst writing mainly on Iran’s foreign
policy developments. Over the past decade, his political commentaries and
articles have appeared in numerous popular media and online journals, including
Foreign Policy Journal, Foreign Policy In Focus, Monthly Review, Eurasia
Review, AntiWar.com, Tehran Times, Middle East Online, San Francisco Chronicle,
Online Opinion, American Chronicle, and a number of other national newspapers
and online journals across the world. He has also published a number of book
chapters and articles in academic journals. Besides academic studies in
political science and international relations, he has also practical experience
in international diplomacy. In the past, he has worked for several years as
international trade expert and researcher in Iran,
as part of which he was involved in various bilateral and multilateral trade
negotiations between Iran
and its trade partners around the world. He is currently completing his Ph. D
studies in political science at Maxwell School of Syracuse University. His
latest articles can also be read on his own blog at <a href="http://www.irandiplomacywatch.com/">www.irandiplomacywatch.com</a>.</div></div></div>
<div>
<p dir="LTR">What follows is the complete text of my in-depth interview with Mr.
Bayyenat in which we discussed the standoff over Iran's
nuclear program, the prospect of Iran-West relations and the politics of Israel's nuclear
activities. </p>
<p dir="LTR"><strong>Kourosh Ziabari: The past decade has
been witness to unending and unremitting clash between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear program. The West has
constantly accused Iran of
trying to build nuclear bombs while Tehran
has persistently denied the allegation. What do you think about the nature of Iran's nuclear
program? Why has it become so controversial and contentious? We already know
that there are four nations in the world, who are not signatories of the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but nobody in
<p><a href="http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.html">Read more...</a></p><div class="feedflare">
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14001-interview-interview-with-abolghasem-bayyenat-on-iran-west-relations-the-politics-of-israels-nuclear-program-and-irans-foreign-policy.htmlAftermath of Israeli Anti-Free Speech Law Passagehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/uNRJvGrOods/14000-aftermath-of-israeli-anti-free-speech-law-passage-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:14:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14000-aftermath-of-israeli-anti-free-speech-law-passage-.html<div>
<div>
<p>by Stephen Lendman</p>
<p>Buoyed
by passage of their anti-boycott bill, Knesset Yisrael Beitenu and Likud
party extremists taste blood and want more. Most worrisome is a
proposed measure to investigate leftist group activities, heading for a
final vote next week.</p>
<p>YNet News writer Moran Azulay quoted Meretz party chairwoman, Sahava Gal-On, calling it &quot;a political inquisition,&quot; adding:</p>
<p>&quot;The
Boycott Law has whetted the appetite of the settler Coalition. This is
an attempt at perpetuating the persecution of left-wing and civil
organizations. What will be the next step? Sham trials? Throwing people
into gulags?&quot;</p>
<p>Weighing in, Labor party MK Eitan Cabel said:</p>
<p>&quot;The
prime minister has lost control over his partners, who are running wild
in the Knesset and taking advantage of the (tyranny) of the majority in
order to trample the minority. We are in the midst of legislative
anarchy.&quot;</p>
<p>United
Arab List-Ta'al party MK Ahmad Tibi wondered which ruling coalition
partner was most racist, Yisrael Beiteinu or Likud, saying:</p>
<p>&quot;In the
beginning they were against Arabs. Now they're against leftists, and
maybe tomorrow they will go up against the feinschmeckers of the Likud&quot;
or anyone challenging them.</p>
<p>According to Kadima party MK Ruhama Avraham:</p>
<p>&quot;This government does not pursue peace or social justice, but rather its own citizens.&quot;</p>
<div>Another
measure proposes giving Knesset members veto power over High Court
nominations. Likud's Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar called it
&quot;dangerous, problematic, and creates a clear hazard of politicizing&quot;
justice nominations.</div>
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/14000-aftermath-of-israeli-anti-free-speech-law-passage-.htmlMedia Warfare and Everyday Lifehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/95qBfQLdwyI/13999-media-warfare-and-everyday-life.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:36:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13999-media-warfare-and-everyday-life.html<div>by Bruce Campbell Ph.D.<br />
<br />
In the U.S., Rupert Murdoch's global News Corporation owns The Wall
Street Journal, Fox News, the New York Post, MySpace.com, Barron's,
TVGuide, HarperCollins Publishers, and 20th Century Fox, to name just a
few of its extensive holdings. &nbsp;Amid revelations that News Corporation
media entities hacked into the phone and medical accounts of British
elected officials and private citizens, a former New York City cop
alleges that he was approached by News Corporation employees who sought
illegal access to the phone accounts of Americans killed in the 9/11
attacks.<br />
<br />
This is an ugly glimpse of the truth behind the liberal vs. conservative
&quot;culture wars&quot; happily promoted by Murdoch's media enterprises and
other corporate media concerns. &nbsp;The true culture war is not about
religion or family values; it is about communication itself.<br />
<br />
Like it or not, you and I are combatants in a society-wide conflict over
the means and ends of communication. Murdoch's News Corporation is the
paradigm case. &nbsp;We must recognize this conflict and deliberately and
collaboratively defend ourselves. I will call this conflict media
warfare. Let me explain.<br />
<br />
Media are not corporations but those conduits of communication and
cultural diffusion that are the modern internal wiring of the cultural
landscape through which we move in our everyday lives. &nbsp; This cultural
circuitry is not the problem, at least not by itself. &nbsp;Media by
themselves - each medium a distinct channel of our collective messaging -
could (and should) serve to ease and extend and give specific form to
our efforts to interact meaningfully with each other.<br />
<br />
The conflict arises when speech and creativity are overrun by interests
alien to our non-commercial and non-ideological interpersonal needs, to
our concrete family and community<div class="feedflare">
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13999-media-warfare-and-everyday-life.htmlEmpire or Republic: from Joplin, Missouri to Kabul, Afghanistanhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/aocYiPqvhYc/13998-empire-or-republic-from-joplin-missouri-to-kabul-afghanistan.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 04 Jun 2011 21:46:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13998-empire-or-republic-from-joplin-missouri-to-kabul-afghanistan.htmlby James Petras Ph.D.
<div> </div>
<div>
<p><strong><u>Introduction</u></strong></p>
<p> On
May 29, 2011, President Obama visited Joplin, Missouri,
the site of a devastating tornado that killed 140 and pronounced it a terrible
“tragedy”. But were the deaths the inevitable result of
‘natural events’ beyond the human intervention?</p>
<p> Coincidentally
the same week Afghan President Karzai condemned the killing of a family of 14
by a NATO fighter bomber, running the total to several hundred civilians killed
so far this year and thousands over the decade.</p>
<p> The
relation between the civilian deaths in Joplin
and Afghanistan
raises fundamental questions about the priorities, character and direction of
the US Empire and the future of the American republic.</p>
<p><strong><u>Geography of
Tornados</u></strong></p>
<p> Every
year at least 20 major violent tornadoes – with winds exceeding 200 mph
– hit “tornado alley” and beyond, including central Texas,
northern Iowa, central Kansas, Nebraska, western Ohio, Missouri, Indiana,
Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. Each and every year at least sixty are
killed and several hundred are maimed and injured. This year, through May
2011, over 519 have been killed, 25% of whom were in mobile homes, almost three
times as many as those in standard houses.</p>
<p> In
other words, these tornado-related deaths are predictable, annual, and region-specific
and have a higher incidence among low income households. Government agencies
and academics have compiled data banks and time series information mapping the
route, frequency and impact of tornadoes.</p>
<p> Information
about the nature of killer tornadoes is plentiful. Nevertheless deaths mount
from year to year. Fear and insecurity stalks the region’s most
susceptible to the violent whirlwinds, even as the Congress and White House
have increased personnel and funding for ‘Homeland Security’ twenty
fold over the decade .The current budget is over $180 billion. If we add the
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13998-empire-or-republic-from-joplin-missouri-to-kabul-afghanistan.htmlPublic Education: How To Improve It and Cut The Costhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/j1A5BmoJ0wc/13997-public-education-how-to-improve-it-and-cut-the-cost-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 03 Jun 2011 10:35:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13997-public-education-how-to-improve-it-and-cut-the-cost-.html<div>by Peter Stern
<div align="center">&nbsp;</div>
The Fight Against a Mediocre Public Education is NOT working. We all
know it.
<p>For the majority of children and parents, who rely on it, public education
continues to fail the needs and the learning outcomes of the children attempting
to get a quality education. Believe me, I know first-hand. I graduated public
education, barely. My high school had 6,000 kids enrolled. </p>
<p>I forced myself to continue my education and received my first Masters Degree
from New York University, one of the top colleges in the nation. I have 2 more
post graduate degrees. I became a public school teacher and then a Principal. I
was a Program Director for the Board of Education in a major U.S. city.&nbsp; I
also became a University Professor.&nbsp; One sad day I finally left teaching
because of politics and burnout trying to create positive change in a system
that fights you every step of the way in providing a quality education for our
children. Instead, I became a Director of Information Services and made a lot of
money.</p>
<p>Public education needs help. There have been many leaders who have tried to
&quot;fix&quot; it, but all have failed for one reason or another. I have a simpler
solution for success. It will save a ton of tax dollars and will achieve better
learning outcomes. It will provide the public education the majority of our
children need in order to succeed in life. It will work for all of them.</p>
<p>• Teach children the basic needs in learning and life: reading, writing, math
along with some basic science and core history. Do it so learning is fun.</p>
<p>• Reduce class sizes in half.</p>
<p>• Then give them one elective period where they can pursue whatever topic
they, their parents
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13997-public-education-how-to-improve-it-and-cut-the-cost-.htmlWarning: This Message Contains Democracyhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/y_jbClXB1Gs/13996--warning-this-message-contains-democracy.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:34:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13996--warning-this-message-contains-democracy.html<div>by Susan Lindauer</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<p>No great
civilization is ever destroyed from without, or conquered by external
forces, until it first destroys itself from within. America's leaders
should have thought long and hard about that before voting to extend the
Patriot Act last week.</p>
<p>Unhappily it's official. We the People are
the enemy. We have dared to prod and examine government policy too
closely. We have questioned government leadership when we should rightly
have obeyed without challenge. Some of us have exposed wrongful
government practices and deceptions, expecting to hold Congress and
White House leaders accountable to voters. Foolish us!</p>
<p>Last week
Congress set the record straight. Breaking campaign promises to defeat
the Patriot Act, Congress blocked hearings and debate on amendments that
would fix problems in surveillance rules, and rammed a four year
extension on the American People. Only 31 Republicans and 122 Democrats
voted against the Patriot Act in the House.</p>
<p><strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>IMPORTING GESTAPO LAW </strong></p>
<p>It's no exaggeration, unfortunately, that the Patriot Act is more dangerous to our way of life than any foreign enemy.</p>
<p>Most
ominously, entire sections of the Patriot Act are verbatim and
identical to two of the most frightening laws in World History:</p>
<p>• The <strong>1929 Bolshevik Communist Criminal Act</strong>
established Communist control in the age of Joseph Stalin. It created a
security apparatchik unparalleled in its intrusion into the lives of
ordinary, non-political families. For enforcement, it created the
Gulags, which quickly filled with intellectuals and dissidents, poets
and hard luck Russian people who got caught in the wrong place at the
wrong time. It was enough for a neighbor to point a finger secretly for
that individual to disappear to the Siberian work camps for life. Secret
charges, secret evidence, secret accusations figured prominently---
identical to the Patriot Act.</p>
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13996--warning-this-message-contains-democracy.htmlGod Bless America. And its Bombs.http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/LO13eex8xuw/13995-god-bless-america-and-its-bombs.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:32:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13995-god-bless-america-and-its-bombs.html<div>by William Blum<br />
<br />
<p>When they bombed Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, El Salvador and Nicaragua I said nothing because I wasn't a communist.</p>
<p>When they bombed China, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, and the Congo I said nothing because I didn't know about it.</p>
<p>When they bombed Lebanon and Grenada I said nothing because I didn't understand it.</p>
<p>When they bombed Panama I said nothing because I wasn't a drug dealer.</p>
<p>When they bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen I said nothing because I wasn't a terrorist.</p>
<p>When they bombed Yugoslavia and Libya for &quot;humanitarian&quot; reasons I said nothing because it sounded so honorable.</p>
<p>Then they bombed my house and there was no one left to speak out for me. But it didn't really matter. I was dead. <sup><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer94.html#note-1" id="link-1">1</a></sup></p>
<h3>The Targets</h3>
<p>It's become a commonplace to accuse the United States of choosing as
its bombing targets only people of color, those of the Third World, or
Muslims. But it must be remembered that one of the most sustained and
ferocious American bombing campaigns of modern times — 78 consecutive
days — was carried out against the people of the former Yugoslavia:
white, European, Christians. The United States is an equal-opportunity
bomber. The only qualifications for a country to become a target are:
(A) It poses an obstacle — could be anything — to the desires of the
American Empire; (B) It is virtually defenseless against aerial attack.</p>
<h3>The survivors</h3>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;We never see the smoke and the fire, we never smell the blood, we
never see the terror in the eyes of the children, whose nightmares will
now feature screaming missiles from unseen terrorists, known only as
Americans.&quot; <sup><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer94.html#note-2" id="link-2">2</a></sup></p></blockquote>
<p>NASA has announced an audacious new mission, launching a spaceship
that will travel for four years
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13995-god-bless-america-and-its-bombs.htmlMonsoon - The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power- Book Review by Jim Mileshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/GO19r3LGC9c/13994-monsoon-the-indian-ocean-and-the-future-of-american-power-book-review-by-jim-miles.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:58:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13994-monsoon-the-indian-ocean-and-the-future-of-american-power-book-review-by-jim-miles.html<p><img alt="" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514Y94plPiL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" align="left" vspace="4" width="177" height="190" hspace="4" />by Jim Miles</p>
<div>&nbsp;When I first read Robert Kaplan, it was shortly after 9/11 when a whole library of books became available about U.S. foreign policy and how it should deal with the terrorist threat presented to the U.S. and democracy. At that time, in his work “<strong>Warrior Politics</strong>” he reasonably recognizes that his perspective is but one of many and none can be truly objective. He recognized the reality of the “American imperium” in terms that imperialism is the “most ordinary and dependable form of protection for ethnic minorities and others under violent assault,” and “an imperial reality already dominates our foreign policy.” Towards the end of the work he quotes Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization,” and follows with his own summation that “the restraining power of our own democracy makes it hard for us to demand and orchestrate authentic transitions everywhere. Only through stealth and anxious foresight can America create a secure international system.”</div>
<p>We have had in the intervening years since that publication a significant decrease in democracy within the U.S. (constitutional issues, international law, and human rights issues such as torture). Indeed if democracy is inimical to mobilization, then democracy needs to be avoided, and its “restraining” power has been greatly diminished (when were the people, the demos, last asked if they wanted the U.S. to go to war?) As for demanding and orchestrating authentic transitions, that has been exposed through global media as being very real, although always with unexpected outcomes - and notice that the “transitions” are not necessarily labelled as democratic, simply transitions. The record over the last decade would also show that stealth has not created a secure international system (secure for whom - the global elites, the corporate bosses?) While
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13994-monsoon-the-indian-ocean-and-the-future-of-american-power-book-review-by-jim-miles.htmlInterstates And States of Griefhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/ht6B7Cjzdbk/13993-interstates-and-states-of-grief.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:47:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13993-interstates-and-states-of-grief.htmlby Phil Rockstroh<br />
<br />I’m in
Atlanta, Georgia, at present, among the scent of pine trees and the reek
of southern
denial. The moribund economy has thwarted the city’s manic drive to
silence its resentful ghosts by means of constant motion … Below the
lilting southern accents here, one detects rage … Not simply the
ubiquitous hate-speak on right-wing talk radio. But an animus bred by
truth-deferred … that southern pride is a lie of the mind — a blown
banner … foisted skyward to distract the minds of my fellow southerners
from the ground level truths of a system rigged to enrich the privileged
few and keep the many working for their benefit. (How do you think they
filled the ranks of the Confederate Army to kill and die for the rights
of rich men to own slaves.)<br />
<br />I arrived in Georgia by route of the US interstate system.<br />
<br />Traveling
US interstate highways one suffers a confluence of so much contemporary
madness and tragedy extant in the land … so much suppressed fear and
aggression. Yet, through it all, the heart still yearns to see what lies
over the next horizon. <br />
Although, lamentably, what is revealed, all
to often, proves to be as sterile, inhospitable, ugly, and inhuman as
what was beheld at the last.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<div>&quot;Who has twisted us around like
this, so that no matter what we do, we are in the posture of someone
going away?&quot; <br />
<div align="right">- Rainer Maria Rilke</div></div></blockquote><br />
<div>
<p>Any situation, as is the case
with interstate highway travel, in which to momentarily stop or even to
slow down, one risks death should be regarded as an affront (if not
anathema) to common sense and the longings of the heart.
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13993-interstates-and-states-of-grief.htmlNaseer Aruri Ph.D.: No politician with an &quot;anti-Zionist mindset&quot; could ever ...http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/cW8jdqO7YuE/13992-naseer-aruri-phd-no-politician-with-an-qanti-zionist-mindsetq-could-ever-dream-of-living-in-the-white-house.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:39:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13992-naseer-aruri-phd-no-politician-with-an-qanti-zionist-mindsetq-could-ever-dream-of-living-in-the-white-house.html<p>by Kourosh Ziabari in Iran</p>
<div>
<p dir="LTR">Naseer Aruri is Chancellor Professor
(emeritus) of Political Science, University
of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He is president of Trans-Arab
Research Institute in Boston.
Prof. Aruri is the a contributor to the book &quot;Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly
Impact of Sanctions and War&quot; by the South End Press and the author of the
book &quot;Palestinian Refugees: The Right of Return&quot; published by the University of British Columbia Press in 2001. Prof.
Aruri is on the Advisory Board of the Council for Palestinian Restitution and
Repatriation.</p>
<p dir="LTR">Aruri has also written the book &quot;The
Obstruction of Peace: The U.S., Israel
and the Palestinians.&quot; Amazon.com has described this book &quot;a
Palestinian perspective on the peace process in his Middle Eastern region which
provides a different view for the reasons behind Palestinian-Israeli impasses.&quot;</p>
<p dir="LTR">According to
Wikipedia, Aruri contributed to the foundation of the Arab Organization for
Human Rights (AOHR) in 1983. From 1984-1990, Aruri was elected to three
consecutive terms on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International, USA, and
served on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch/Middle East from 1990 to
1992. </p>
<p dir="LTR">What follows is
the complete text of my exclusive interview with Prof. Naseer Aruri in which we
discussed a variety of topics including the prospect of Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, the role of the United States in the solving the crisis in Palestine
and the performance of PLO as the defacto representative of the Palestinian
nation in the international level. </p>
<p dir="LTR"><strong>Kourosh Ziabari: Dear Prof. Aruri;
there are various interpretations regarding the truth behind the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both sides of the conflict cite claims over the
land which is known as the Land
of Israel. So, from an
impartial and objective point of view, which side is the righteous? Which
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13992-naseer-aruri-phd-no-politician-with-an-qanti-zionist-mindsetq-could-ever-dream-of-living-in-the-white-house.html‘Matter of Policy’: Gaza War and Goldstone’s Moral Collapsehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/F5rYtFvvjxk/13991-matter-of-policy-gaza-war-and-goldstones-moral-collapse.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:26:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13991-matter-of-policy-gaza-war-and-goldstones-moral-collapse.html<div>by Ramzy Baroud</div>
<div><br />
Shocking
is not a sufficient term to describe Justice Richard Goldstone’s
decision to recant parts of the 2009 report on alleged war crimes in
Gaza.</div>
<div>
<p>The
document, known as the Goldstone Report, was compiled after a thorough
investigation led by the South African judge and three other
well-regarded investigators. They documented 36 incidents that occurred
during the Israeli Operation Cast Lead, an unprecedentedly violent
attack against small, impoverished and besieged Gaza. It resulted in the
death of over 1,400 Palestinians, and the wounding of over 5,500.</p>
<p>Goldstone
is both Jewish and Zionist. His love for Israel has been widely and
affectionately conveyed. In this particular case, he seemed completely
torn between his ideological and tribal position and his commitment to
justice and truth, as enshrined in the mandate of the UN Human Rights
Council.</p>
<p>After
18 months of what seemed a wholly personal introspection, accompanied
by an endless campaign of pressure and intimidation by Zionist and
pro-Israel Jewish groups from all over the world, the man finally
surrendered.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;“If
I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a
different document,” he wrote in the Washington Post on April 1. But
what did Goldstone learn anew since he issued his 575-page report in
September 2009?</p></blockquote>
<p>The
supposed basis of Goldstone’s rethink is a follow-up report issued by a
UN committee chaired by retired New York Judge Mary McGowan Davis. Her
report was not a reinvestigation of Israel’s —&nbsp; and Hamas’ —
alleged war crimes in Gaza, but a follow up on the Goldstone
Commission’s findings, which urged the referral of the matter to the
International Criminal Court. McGowan Davis made this distinction clear
in a recent interview with the Israeli Jerusalem Post. According to the
post, she said,
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13991-matter-of-policy-gaza-war-and-goldstones-moral-collapse.htmlNow Israel Is Free to Declare Its Innocence before the International Court of Justicehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/si9hubdKtdk/13989-now-israel-is-free-to-declare-its-innocence-before-the-international-court-of-justice.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:19:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13989-now-israel-is-free-to-declare-its-innocence-before-the-international-court-of-justice.html<div>by William A. Cook Ph.D. <br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>Thank God Judge Goldstone recanted his
judgment on Israel and its IDF forces in the slaughter inflicted on Gaza during
its Christmas invasion in 2008-2009; both are now innocent of wrongful intent
to kill Palestinian civilians since the Israeli military courts investigated
Goldstone’s allegations and determined he was wrong. Now the good Judge has
found, with the military court, that the Israeli government, that refused to
cooperate with the United Nations investigation, did not intentionally send its
forces to kill and destroy but only to kill and destroy Gaza; that the
civilians were killed is simply a sad consequence of war. How astute, how
learned, how compassionate; how absurd, how facetious, how despicable.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div align="center">&nbsp;<img alt="" title="" src="http://atlanticfreepress.com/images/stories/WP412121EX27.JPG" width="400" height="300" /><br />
</div>
<p>Yet, good may come of this decision. Now
Israel is free to declare its innocence before the International Court of
Justice since it is Israel’s investigation that can be presented as its case,
with the good Judge as co-defendant. After all, isn’t this exactly what the
Israeli government has wanted from the start, a way to demonstrate to the world
that its Army is the most moral on the planet, its government the most
democratic, acting only to defend its people, its weaponry the most
sophisticated state of the art precision ordinance available, and its actions
always proportionate to the crimes it seeks to address? Knowing now what they
did not know before Judge Goldstone recanted his report, the government of
Israel has nothing to fear from the ICJ but the justice it so rightfully deserves.
Certainly it makes no sense for Israel or the UN to do nothing now that the
report has been brought into question. The world has castigated Israel because
of the
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13989-now-israel-is-free-to-declare-its-innocence-before-the-international-court-of-justice.htmlUSAID Sides With Chevron Against Niger Delta Rebels - works to create new enemies among Ijo and ...http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/w4RdYr10GCs/13988-usaid-sides-with-chevron-against-niger-delta-rebels-works-to-create-new-enemies-among-ijo-and-ogoni-tribes.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:12:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13988-usaid-sides-with-chevron-against-niger-delta-rebels-works-to-create-new-enemies-among-ijo-and-ogoni-tribes.html<div>by Matthew Nasuti</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><br />
In February 2011, in a little known development, the Obama
Administration decided to seek new enemies abroad by choosing sides in a
low level civil war being waged in southern Nigeria. Astonishingly, the
U.S. State Department has publicly allied itself with oil giant
Chevron, which is the target of a guerrilla war being waged by the
fifteen (15) million Ijo tribesmen in the Niger River Delta. <br />
<br />Chevron is accused of environmental devastation, theft of resources and corruption. <br />
<br />While
the formal U.S./Chevron alliance in Nigeria is new, the ties between
senior Obama Administration officials and Chevon are long standing. On
August 9, 2009, Hillary Clinton, while traveling in Angola, proclaimed
that she and Chevron share “a common vision.” <br />
<br />Chevron pipelines
and personnel in the Delta have been under attack for twenty years by
local tribesman. What occurred in Nigeria in February 2011, is that the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) entered into a
partnership with Chevron Corporation. USAID contributed $25 million for a
joint public relations effort called “the “Niger Delta Partnership
Initiative.” Chevron press releases have since trumpeted the
U.S./Chevron alliance. Chevron, which has an unsavory reputation within
some segments of Nigerian society, is seeking to bolster its image by
allying itself with the United States. <br />
<br />The Niger Delta dispute
first came to the world’s attention in the early 1990's. At that time
the one million plus Ogoni people had begun a mass peaceful protest
against Shell Oil due to alleged environmental crimes. Led by
poet/writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Ogoni pacifist movement came under
increasing violent attack by government militias. In 1993, Mr. Saro-Wiwa
was arrested, 2,000 Ogoni were massacred and 80,000 were evicted from
their homes. In 1995, Mr. Saro-Wiwa
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13988-usaid-sides-with-chevron-against-niger-delta-rebels-works-to-create-new-enemies-among-ijo-and-ogoni-tribes.htmlWhy the “Obama Doctrine” won’t help the Shia majority in Bahrainhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/HbV5Ph-2L0k/13987-why-the-obama-doctrine-wont-help-the-shia-majority-in-bahrain.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 21:03:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13987-why-the-obama-doctrine-wont-help-the-shia-majority-in-bahrain.html<div>by Franklin Lamb Ph.D.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<p>Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi passed through Beirut a couple of weeks ago and gave a terrific lecture at the American University of Beirut entitled &quot;Preliminary Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011.&quot;</p></blockquote>
<p>In response to a student's question, Khalidi disputed that there wasn't any &quot;Obama Doctrine&quot; worthy of that label and he predicted the White House would be much more tolerant of human rights abuses in Bahrain than say, in Libya and some other countries whose despotism indexes are no worse than the 200 year ossified Al Khalifa dynasty's war against its majority Shia population.</p>
<p>After his talk, I reminded Rashid in our brief encounter that we had not crossed paths since that fateful summer of 1982 in West Beirut where we and our mutual friend, American journalist Janet Stevens, who had introduced us, all shared a similar experience of trying to do research amidst the Israeli bombing and intermittent electricity and water cuts.</p>
<p>In those, now sometimes romanticized &quot;summer of '82 days&quot; Khalidi was an intense hard working young man and his 1982 research was published in his 1983 volume: &quot;Under Siege: P.L.O. Decision making During the 1982 War.&quot;</p>
<p>It was during this period that Janet (Rashid was in no way involved!) and I committed at least four felonies (I was just following orders!) and broke into the abandoned AUB cafeteria &amp; AUB storage rooms and liberated maybe 500 cases of AUB bottled water and perhaps 50 large cartons filled with that nasty orange powdered drink stuff.<br />
Janet put me in charge of about 100 Fatah fighters who, wisely assuming the Israeli's would think twice before bombing AUB, had set up a base under the Bayan trees on campus and we all used to share the AUB beach
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13987-why-the-obama-doctrine-wont-help-the-shia-majority-in-bahrain.htmlJames Petras Ph.D. - Washington’s Long War Against Africahttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/nyGWcIUkMfs/13986-james-petras-phd-washingtons-long-war-against-africa.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:47:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13986-james-petras-phd-washingtons-long-war-against-africa.html<div>by James Petras Ph.D.<br />
<br /></div>
The US bombing of Libya in support of rebel clients in the spring of 2011 is part and parcel of a sustained policy of military intervention in Africa since at least the mid 1950’s. According to a US Congressional Research Service Study<a href="http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title="1" id="_ftnref1"> </a> published in November 2010, Washington has dispatched anywhere between hundreds and several thousand combat troops, dozens of fighter planes and warships to buttress client dictatorships or to unseat adversarial regimes in dozens of countries, almost on a yearly bases.
<p>The record shows the US armed forces intervened 46 times prior to the current Libyan wars<a href="http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="" id="_ftnref2"> </a>. The countries suffering one or more US military intervention include the Congo, Zaine, Libya, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Ruanda, Liberia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea. The only progressive intervention was in Egypt under Eisenhower who forced the Israeli-French-English forces to withdraw from the Suez in 1956. Between the mid 1950’s to the end of the 1970’s, only 4 overt military operations were recorded, though <u>large scale proxy and clandestine military operations</u> were pervasive. Under Reagan-Bush Sr. (1980-1991) military intervention accelerated, rising to 8, <u>not counting the large scale clandestine ‘special forces’ and proxy wars in Southern Africa</u>. </p>
<p>Under the Clinton regime, US militarized imperialism in Africa took off. Between 1992 and 2000, 17 armed incursions took place, including a large scale invasion of Somalia and military backing for the Ruanda genocidal regime.<a href="http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title="" id="_ftnref3"> </a> Clinton intervened in Liberia, Gabon, Congo and Sierra Leone to prop up a long standing stooge regime. He bombed the Sudan and dispatched military personnel to Kenya and Ethiopia to back proxy clients assaulting Somalia. Under Bush Jr. 15
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13986-james-petras-phd-washingtons-long-war-against-africa.htmlInflation Hits Money and Lieshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/BkypnMrsr5A/13985-inflation-hits-money-and-lies.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:46:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13985-inflation-hits-money-and-lies.html<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">by Joel S. Hirschhorn</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">How do the powerful keep the
US population dumb and
distracted?<span>&nbsp; </span>A key tactic has been
using methodologies that produce totally misleading underestimates of key
economic factors.<span>&nbsp; </span>First we learned
that official unemployment figures are too low by a factor of two.<span>&nbsp; </span>Now, understand that the official rate
of inflation hitting consumers is even more inaccurate.<span>&nbsp; </span>You will hear about a low inflation rate
of less than 3 percent.<span>&nbsp; </span>In reality,
it is closer to 10 percent, according to the highly regarded analysis by <a href="http://www.shadowstats.com/" target="_blank">John Williams</a>.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">It is difficult for any one of us
to have first hand evidence that unemployment nationally is really much higher
than what the government says, even though most of us know people who are out of
work or taking part time work out of sheer necessity.<span>&nbsp; </span>But when it comes to rising prices
hitting our pockets, credit cards and checkbooks we have a much clearer sense of
what is really happening.<span>&nbsp; </span>Gasoline
prices have jumped more than 10 percent in recent weeks and for most of us is
about a dollar more a gallon than a year ago or so.<span>&nbsp; </span>Some experts are predicting that $4 gas
will soon hit most of the nation and, even worse, that $5 gas may hit us this
summer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">&nbsp;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Food prices are also jumping like
a frog on crack cocaine.<span>&nbsp; </span>Many of
them are masked by smaller weight packaging.<span>&nbsp; </span>Health care costs, especially insurance
premiums and drugs, have also hit many Americans substantially and
painfully.<span>&nbsp; </span>High inflation
especially hits hard those people who
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13985-inflation-hits-money-and-lies.htmlWhere Did The Towers Go? - Evidence Of Directed Free-Energy Technology On 9/11 – Book Review ...http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Ewwy3XZv9Pg/13984-where-did-the-towers-go-evidence-of-directed-free-energy-technology-on-911-book-review-by-eric-larsen-phd.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:32:00 PDThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13984-where-did-the-towers-go-evidence-of-directed-free-energy-technology-on-911-book-review-by-eric-larsen-phd.html<div><img style="margin: 5px" alt="" title="" src="http://wheredidthetowersgo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CoverPage_blue_s.jpg" align="left" border="0" width="150" height="211" />by Eric Larsen Ph.D.<br />
<p>What a complete, unmitigated disaster 9/11
and the ten awful years following it have been—ten years of murder, crime,
lawlessness, deceit, stupidity, and blindness that are only now meliorated, at
long last, by the publication of Dr. Judy Wood’s unique, revelatory, and
unequivocally welcome book, <a href="http://wheredidthetowersgo.com/"><em>Where Did the Towers Go? The Evidence of
Directed Free-Energy Technology on 9/11</em></a>.</p>
<p>Allow me to make full disclosure now, so
that those (and, believe me, there are many) who will choose not to read
further can quit right away and save time.</p>
<p>I, me, Eric Larsen, wrote the Foreword to
Dr. Wood’s book. I wrote it partly because I have known for many years about
Dr. Wood’s research; partly because I have followed the website that Dr. Wood
has maintained (<a href="http://www.drjudywood.com/">http://www.drjudywood.com/</a>);
and partly because I was lucky enough to be given the <em>opportunity</em> to write that Foreword.</p>
<p>It wasn’t just an opportunity but a high
honor. To give an idea of how great an honor it was, here is the first line of
what I wrote:</p>
<p>The book you now hold in
your hands is the most important book of the twenty-first century.</p>
<p>Let me go further and quote the two
sentences also , since the same obligation pertains now as did when I wrote
them<em>—</em>the obligation for me to explain
why I said so unqualified a thing and what I meant by it. Here’s what I meant,
and still do:</p>
<p><em>Where Did the Towers Go? </em>is a work,
assuming that its content and message are properly and fairly heeded, that
offers a starting point from which those who genuinely want to do it can begin,
first, to rein in and then, perhaps, even end the wanton
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/reviews/13984-where-did-the-towers-go-evidence-of-directed-free-energy-technology-on-911-book-review-by-eric-larsen-phd.htmlGeorge Katsiaficas: U.S. Human Rights Policy is Self-serving and Duplicitoushttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/kttiS1GD3NQ/13983-george-katsiaficas-us-human-rights-policy-is-self-serving-and-duplicitous.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 05 Mar 2011 22:49:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13983-george-katsiaficas-us-human-rights-policy-is-self-serving-and-duplicitous.html<div>by Kourosh Ziabari in Iran</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<blockquote>George Katsiaficas is a renowned university professor, sociologist, author and activist. He is a visiting American Professor of Humanities and Sociology at Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea where he teaches and does research on the 1980s and 1990s East Asian uprisings. <br />
<br />Katsiaficas has a Ph.D. of sociology from the University of California, San Diego. Since 1990, he has taught sociology at the Wentworth Institute of Technology's Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. During the period between 2006 and 2008, he was an Associate in Research at the Harvard University and Korea Institute. <br />
<br />He specializes in social movements, Asian politics, the U.S. foreign policy, comparative and historical studies and has written numerous books in these fields. <br />
<br />In 2003, he won the American Political Science Association's Special Award for Outstanding Service and in 2008, received the Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Fellowship. <br />
<br />Among his major books are &quot;The Battle of Seattle&quot; by the New York's Soft Skull Press, &quot;Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party&quot; by New York's Routledge Press and &quot;South Korean Democracy: Legacy of the Gwangju Uprising&quot; by London's Routledge Press.<br />
<br />What follows is the complete text of interview with Dr. George Katsiaficas on the recent uprising in the Arab world, its impacts on the international developments and its implications for the United States and its European allies.<br />
</blockquote><br />
Kourosh Ziabari: After Tunisia and Egypt in which the revolutionary forces and people on the ground succeeded in ousting the U.S.-backed puppets, several other Arab nations joined them and staged massive street demonstrations to call for civil liberties, improved living conditions, freedom and democratic governments. Now the whole Arab world is in a state of turmoil and unrest
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13983-george-katsiaficas-us-human-rights-policy-is-self-serving-and-duplicitous.htmlThe Enduring Mystique of the Marshall Planhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/2Mlq9Y8102k/13982-the-enduring-mystique-of-the-marshall-plan.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:37:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13982-the-enduring-mystique-of-the-marshall-plan.html<div>by William Blum<br />
<br />Amidst all the stirring political upheavals in North Africa and the
Middle East the name &quot;Marshall Plan&quot; keeps being repeated by political
figures and media around the world as the key to rebuilding the
economies of those societies to complement the political advances, which
hopefully will be somewhat progressive. But <em>caveat emptor</em>. Let the buyer beware.
<p>During my years of writing and speaking about the harm and injustice
inflicted upon the world by unending United States interventions, I've
often been met with resentment from those who accuse me of chronicling
only the negative side of US foreign policy and ignoring the many
positive sides. When I ask the person to give me some examples of what
s/he thinks show the virtuous face of America's dealings with the world
in modern times, one of the things mentioned — almost without exception —
is The Marshall Plan. This is usually described along the lines of:
&quot;After World War II, the United States unselfishly built up Europe
economically, including our wartime enemies, and allowed them to compete
with us.&quot; Even those today who are very cynical about US foreign
policy, who are quick to question the White House's motives in
Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, have little problem in accepting this
picture of an altruistic America of the period 1948-1952. But let's
have a look at the Marshall Plan outside the official and popular
versions.</p>
<div>After World War II, the United States, triumphant abroad and
undamaged at home, saw a door wide open for world supremacy. Only the
thing called &quot;communism&quot; stood in the way, politically, militarily, and
ideologically. The entire US foreign policy establishment was mobilized
to confront this &quot;enemy&quot;, and the Marshall Plan was an integral part of
this campaign. How could it be otherwise? Anti-communism had
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13982-the-enduring-mystique-of-the-marshall-plan.htmlIndonesia – The Worst Example For Revolutions In Arab Worldhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/7v3bpaYG0n4/13981-indonesia-the-worst-example-for-revolutions-in-arab-world.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:35:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13981-indonesia-the-worst-example-for-revolutions-in-arab-world.html<div>by Andre Vltchek </div>
<div>
<p>
As
several revolts shook recently big part of Arab world, as Hosni Mubarak
stepped down and the leaders of Bahrain and Libya could not think about
anything better than to order bloody crack down against their own
people, the world (read Western governments, media and academia) were
watching with increasing doze of discomfort.</p>
<p>
Protests seem to be engulfing almost all countries in the region from Morocco and Tunis to Jordan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p>
<p>
Staunch
ally of the West – Saudis – feel suddenly 'vulnerable', even
'encircled'. No wonder – millions of the poor from all over the region
are now marching and fighting for social justice or for justice in
general. And there is hardly a place in the world with more striking
inequalities than in this kingdom based on Wahabi conservative Islam,
historically close ally of British imperialism. As is well known, Saudi
Arabia is bathing in oil – that dark liquid which is both blessing and
curse - enriching elites while helping to maintain apartheid between the
natives and exploited migrant workers.</p>
<p>
For
decades, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt (or more precisely their
rulers and 'elites') – all of them served Western interests with zeal
and efficiency. Now they are expecting helping hand, support in this
complex and 'dangerous times'.</p>
<p>
While
the White House was sending conflicting reports to its allies,
well-disciplined mass media and academia rose immediately to the
challenge and invented 'the best role model for the Arab world' –
Indonesia.</p>
<p>
After
all, Indonesia is home to more Muslims than any other nation on earth.
It is rich in natural resources and after 1998 it holds multi-party
elections. Its economy is growing at more than 6% a year and there seem
to be
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13981-indonesia-the-worst-example-for-revolutions-in-arab-world.htmlRobert Jensen: Consciousness rising, world fadinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/0DeZ4i9jIfI/13980-robert-jensen-consciousness-rising-world-fading.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:40:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13980-robert-jensen-consciousness-rising-world-fading.htmlby Robert Jensen Ph.D. &nbsp;
<p>Our stories of awakenings -- whether moral,
intellectual, religious, artistic, or sexual -- are tricky. Honest
self-reflection doesn't come easy, and self-satisfied accounts are the
norm; we love to be the heroes of our own epics. </p>
<p>That's
true of accounts of political awakening as well, especially for those
of us born into unearned privilege as a result of systems of
illegitimate authority. Not only do we love to tell stories in which we
come out looking good, but we know how to decorate the narrative with
the trappings of humility to avoid seeming arrogant.&nbsp; We use our
failures to set up the story of our transformation; even when we speak
of our limitations we are highlighting our wisdom in seeing those
limitations.</p>
<p>So, when I
got a request from a researcher to tell my story about how my political
consciousness was raised, I was hesitant. I don't like feeling like a
fraud, and something always feels a bit fraudulent about my account,
even when I am being as honest as I can. But, like most people, I feel
driven to tell my story, mostly to try to explain myself to myself. So,
here I go again:</p>
<p>As a
teenager coming of age in the 1970s in mainstream culture in the upper
Midwest, I missed the United States' radicalizing movements by a decade
and several hundred miles. I developed conventional liberal politics in
reaction to the conventional conservative politics of my father and his
generation. But in a more basic sense, I grew up depoliticized -- like
most contemporary Americans, I was never taught to analyze systems and
structures of power, and so my banal liberal positions seemed like
cutting edge critique to me. After college I worked as a journalist at
mainstream newspapers, which
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13980-robert-jensen-consciousness-rising-world-fading.htmlTill September: The PA’s Meaningless Deadlineshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/fOrUQ6Nxo_c/13979-till-september-the-pas-meaningless-deadlines.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:37:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13979-till-september-the-pas-meaningless-deadlines.html<div>by Ramzy Baroud</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<p>Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his supporters in the Fatah party
want us to believe that dramatic changes are underway in the occupied
Palestinian territories. </p>
<p>This
is part of a strategy intended to offset any public dissatisfaction
with the self-designated Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. The PA
hopes the ‘news’ will create enough distraction to help it survive the
current climate of major public-regime showdowns engulfing the Middle
East. </p>
<p>Anticipating
a potential popular uprising in the occupied territories - which could
result in a major revamping of the current power, to the disadvantage of
Abbas - the PA is now taking preventive measures. </p>
<p>First,
there was the resignation of the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb
Ereka on February 12. Erekat was clearly implicated in negotiating, if
not squandering, Palestinian rights in successive meetings with Israeli
and American officials. This was revealed through nearly 1,600 leaked
documents, which Aljazeera and the Guardian termed the ‘Palestine
Papers’. </p>
<p>Erekat
was hardly representing himself, as he readily gave away much
territory, including most of Jerusalem. He also agreed to a symbolic
return of Palestinian refugees to their land, now part of today’s
Israel. By keeping his post, the entire PA ‘peace process’ apparatus
would have remained ineffective at best, and at worst entirely
self-seeking, showing no regard whatsoever for Palestinian rights. </p>
<p>With Erekat’s exit, the PA hopes to retain a margin of credibility among Palestinians. </p>
<div>Erekat,
who made his entrance to the world of ‘peace process’ at the Madrid
peace conference in 1991, opted out in a way that conceded no guilt. He
claimed to have left merely because the leak happened through his
office. The PA expects us to believe that, unlike other Arab
governments, it functions in a transparent and
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13979-till-september-the-pas-meaningless-deadlines.htmlSilvia Cattori: An Interview With Gilad Atzmon-To Call A Spade A Spadehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/eKL9YsR4Ngs/13978-silvia-cattori-an-interview-with-gilad-atzmon-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:55:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13978-silvia-cattori-an-interview-with-gilad-atzmon-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.html<div>
<blockquote>
<div class="chapo">Gilad Atzmon is an outstandingly charming man. He is
often described by music critics as one of the finest contemporary jazz
saxophonists. But Atzmon is more than just a musician: for those who
follow events in the Middle East, he is considered to be one of the most
credible voices amongst Israeli opponents. In the last decade he has
relentlessly exposed and denounced barbarian Israeli policies. Just
before his departure on a European Spring Tour, “<em class="spip">The Tide Has Changed</em> “, with his band the <em class="spip">Orient House Ensemble</em>, he spoke to Silvia Cattori.</div></blockquote>
<p class="spip"><strong class="spip">Silvia Cattori</strong>: <em class="spip">As
a jazz musician, what brought you to use your pen as a weapon against
the country where you were born and against your people?</em></p>
<p class="spip"><span class="spip_documents_left spip_documents spip_document_1132" style="float: left">&nbsp; </span><strong class="spip">Gilad Atzmon</strong>:
For many years my music and writings were not integrated at all. I
became a musician when I was seventeen and I took it up as a profession
when I was twenty four. Though I was not involved with, or interested
in politics when I lived in Israel, I was very much against Israel’s
imperial wars. I identified somehow with the left, but later, when I
started to grasp what the Israeli left was all about, I could not find
myself in agreement with anything it claimed to believe in, and that is
when I realised the crime that was taking place in Palestine.</p>
<p class="spip">For me the Oslo Accord was the end of it because I
realised that Israel was not aiming towards reconciliation, or even
integration in the region, and that it completely dismissed the
Palestinian cause. I understood then that I had to leave Israel. It
wasn’t even a political decision — I just didn’t want to be part of
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13978-silvia-cattori-an-interview-with-gilad-atzmon-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.htmlGaddafi aborted Venezuela flight after UK spies discovered escape planshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Vo5UrwksBuo/13977-gaddafi-aborted-venezuela-flight-after-uk-spies-discovered-escape-plans.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:06:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13977-gaddafi-aborted-venezuela-flight-after-uk-spies-discovered-escape-plans.html<div>by Roy S. Carson (<span style="visibility: visible" id="search">vheadline.com)</span><span style="visibility: visible" id="search"></span><span style="visibility: visible" id="search"></span></div>
<div><span style="visibility: visible" id="search"><br />
VHeadline can exclusively reveal that diplomatic sources claim Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi aborted plans to flee to Venezuela when British MI6 intelligence agents monitoring communications out of Iran were told that Iranian officials were acting as intermediaries with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias to facilitate Gaddafi's escape from Tripoli.<br />
<br />Whether or not Caracas would have acceded to the Libyan leader's asylum request remains a matter of conjecture but plans had been sufficiently advanced by Sunday afternoon (local time Caracas) that the official Iranian Press/TV news agency jumped the gun to issue a News Flash at just after 10pm Central European time saying that Gaddafi had already left the country (Libya) headed either for Venezuela or Brazil.<br />
<br />British Foreign Minister William Hague, speaking at a Foreign Affairs conference in Brussels, Monday, had already been briefed by British security services to the extent that he said he had seen reports that Gaddafi was on his way to Venezuela although he was unable to substantiate the information at an official level.<br />
<br />It is understood that Gaddafi was in the final stages of his departure from Tripoli when a diplomatically embarrassed Venezuela denied his asylum request by which time he had also had second thoughts about the flight, fearing that the Americans would use the opportunity to cause an &quot;accident&quot; to happen to his plane en route to Caracas.
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13977-gaddafi-aborted-venezuela-flight-after-uk-spies-discovered-escape-plans.htmlFrom the Gulf to the Ocean: The Middle East is Changinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/CLRINF9jNX0/13976-from-the-gulf-to-the-ocean-the-middle-east-is-changing.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:48:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13976-from-the-gulf-to-the-ocean-the-middle-east-is-changing.htmlby Ramzy Baroud
<p>Now that the Egyptian people have finally wrestled their freedom from the hands of a very stubborn regime, accolades to the revolution are pouring in from all directions. Even those who initially sided with Hosni Mubarak’s regime, or favored a neutral position, have now changed their tune.</p>
<p>“Arabs celebrate from the Gulf to the Ocean,” proclaimed a headline on Al Jazeera TV. The phrase “from the Gulf to the Ocean” is not a haphazard geographical reference, but very much a geopolitical one. Ever since former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat defied the will of the Arab collective and chose a self-serving (and according to popular Arab opinion, disgraceful) exit for his country from what was until then the ‘Arab-Israeli conflict’, the above phrase functioned only as an empty slogan. Saddat’s signing of the Camp David treaty in 1979 had effectively marginalized the most committed Arab country from a conflict that was previously defined by Egypt’s involvement. It thus left Israel’s weaker Arab foes as easy targets for uneven wars, and in a perpetual state of defeat and humiliation. </p>
<p>Mubarak’s importance to Israel and the US stemmed from the fact that he guarded Israeli gains for the pitiful price of $1.8 billion a year. Most of this went to fulfill military contracts, upgrade military hardware and subsidize US military expertise aimed at ‘modernizing’ the Egyptian army. Israel, of course, was given almost double that amount and was promised, through a separate agreement with the US, a military edge against its foes, Egypt included. </p>
<p>But Mubarak gained much more than hard cash. His greatest gains were related to US foreign policy in the region. While the US violated the sovereignty of various Arab countries, Mubarak’s regime was left largely unscathed. Free from any effective resistance at home, and
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13976-from-the-gulf-to-the-ocean-the-middle-east-is-changing.htmlTawtin or Return: Divergent views from Lebanon, but one common goalhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/H149FnmsU4w/13975-tawtin-or-return-divergent-views-from-lebanon-but-one-common-goal.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:41:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13975-tawtin-or-return-divergent-views-from-lebanon-but-one-common-goal.html<div>by Franklin Lamb Ph.D. at Shatila Refugee Camp, Beirut</div>
<p>Lebanese opponents of civil rights for Palestinian Refugees often use less objective and more crude wording to define &quot;tawtin&quot; (&quot;settlement&quot;) than is normally employed in civil society discussions. During last summer's debate in parliament, which failed to enact laws that would allow the world's oldest and largest refugee community the basic civil right to work and to own a home, the &quot;tawtin or return&quot; discussion took on strident and dark meanings, which were largely effective in frightening much of the Lebanese public from supporting even these modest humanitarian measures. Right-wing opponents of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon often define tawtin during public discussions as &quot;implantation&quot; (as in inserting a foreign malignant object or virus into Lebanon's body politic), or &quot;grafting,&quot; &quot;insertion,&quot; &quot;impalement,&quot; &quot;forced integration,&quot; &quot;embedding&quot; &quot;impregnation&quot;, or &quot;patriation&quot;.<br />
<br />
The concept's varied meanings among a largely uninformed Lebanese public have by and large prevented a balanced consideration of the provision in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that includes &quot;a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UNGAR 194.&quot;<br />
<br />
The discussion in Lebanon has centered on presumed Palestinian desires to stay in Lebanon at all costs, as opposed to returning to their country Palestine. The large anti-Palestinian political community has kept the discussion focused on the API's language: &quot;the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation [tawtin] which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries.&quot;<br />
<br />
The concept, indeed the very word “ tawtin” , was used in the summer of 2010 as an emotional bludgeon or cudgel embodying all manner of dire social predictions from the political parties representing the Phalange, Liberal Party, Lebanese Forces, and Free Patriotic Movement's leader General Michel Aoun. </p>
<div>Virtually
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13975-tawtin-or-return-divergent-views-from-lebanon-but-one-common-goal.htmlSexual Assault Coverage by Media Shows Double Standard, Paternalism, and Sexismhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/ByGge3usmkw/13974-sexual-assault-coverage-by-media-shows-double-standard-paternalism-and-sexism.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:37:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13974-sexual-assault-coverage-by-media-shows-double-standard-paternalism-and-sexism.htmlby Walter Brasch Ph.D.
<p> </p>
<p>Lara Logan, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent, was beaten and sexually assaulted, Feb. 11, while on assignment in Cairo to report on the revolution that concluded that day with Hosni Mubarak resigning as president.</p>
<p>Logan, according to an official CBS announcement, was attacked by a group of about 200 Egyptians and &quot;suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers.&quot; The mob, probably pro-Mubarak supporters, but never identified by CBS—had separated Logan from her camera crew. </p>
<p>About a week earlier, Mubarak's army detained, handcuffed, blindfolded, interrogated, and then released Logan and some of her crew after several hours. The government ordered her expelled from the country, probably for her on-air comments about the government intimidating and harassing foreign journalists. Logan returned to Cairo shortly before Mubarak resigned. She returned to the United States the day after the assault, and spent the next four days recovering in a hospital.</p>
<div>The Mubarak administration at the beginning of the protests had expelled the al-Jazeera news network, and began a random campaign against all journalists, the result of the government believing that the media inflamed the call for revolution and the overthrow of Mubarak. There were about 140 cases of assault and harassment of journalists during the 18-day protest, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ahmad Mohamad Mahmoud, an Egyptian journalist, was killed by sniper fire, probably by pro-Mubarak supporters. Among American reporters physically assaulted were CNN's Anderson Cooper and photojournalist Dana Smillie, who was seriously wounded by what appeared to be a dozen BB-size pellets. Journalists displayed &quot;admirable levels of courage as they—initially as individuals and small groups, and eventually in droves—made statements and took actions that exposed them
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13974-sexual-assault-coverage-by-media-shows-double-standard-paternalism-and-sexism.htmlPersian Gulf's name is an eternal reality: Prof. Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh - Interview by Kourosh Ziabarihttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/WGSwhY_Hr9k/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:24:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmlby Kourosh Ziabari
<p>Prof. Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh is a prominent Iranologist, geopolitics researcher, historian and political scientist. He teaches geopolitics at the Tarbiat Modares University of Tehran. He has been the advisor of the United Nations University and the founder and manager of the London-based Urosevic foundation. Mojtahedzadeh has published more than 20 books in Persian, English and Arabic on the geopolitics of Persian Gulf region and modern discourses in international relations. Since 2004, he has been a member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. Moreover, he has been a member of the British Institute of Iranian Studies since 1993. Prof. Mojtahedzadeh earned a Ph.D. in Political Geography from the University of London in 1993 and also obtained a Ph.D. in Political Geography from the University of Oxford in 1979.<br />
He has been a member of the board of the Society for contemporary Iranian Studies at the University of London and also a senior research associate at the Geopolitics &amp; International Boundaries Research Centre. <br />
<br />
Prof. Mojtahedzadeh has published scores of articles regarding the historicity and veracity of Persian Gulf name and the legality of Iran's ownership over the three Persian Gulf islands of Lesser Tunb, Greater Tunb and Abu Musa. He has delivered several international speeches in which he has scientifically repudiated the territorial claims of the United Arab Emirates government over the three Iranian islands and also confronted the psychological operation of the U.S.-backed Arab monarchies in the Middle East in distorting the historical name of the Persian Gulf.<br />
<br />
What follows is the complete text of my exclusive interview with Prof. Mojtahedzadeh in which we discussed the scientific, historical authenticity of Persian Gulf's name, the legality of Iran's ownership of the three Persian Gulf islands of Lesser Tunb, Greater Tunb
<p><a href="http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.html">Read more...</a></p><div class="feedflare">
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13973-persian-gulfs-name-is-an-eternal-reality-prof-pirouz-mojtahedzadeh-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmlLundberg: Subtle Genocide Is Revisiting Cerro Rico, Boliviahttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/SdQCROMxN3A/13972-lundberg-subtle-genocide-is-revisiting-cerro-rico-bolivia-.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:21:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13972-lundberg-subtle-genocide-is-revisiting-cerro-rico-bolivia-.html<div>by Jan Lundberg<br />
<br />The scene of several million deaths at the hands of Spaniard invaders,
Cerro Rico (&quot;rich hill&quot;) is just above the city of Potosí in Bolivia.
In May 2010, I noted significant amounts of plastic debris all over the
mountainside, but I couldn't guess the source. The answer, from my
local driver, is that the miners working in the mountain constantly use
plastic bags for their daily coca supplies. Chewing the leaves provides
stamina and curbs hunger.
<p>
It is ironic that the seemingly harmless but unsightly plastic serves as
a relatively new source of devastation to the health of the community
and the ecosystem. For anyone to dismiss this concern as irrelevant
compared to the poor miners' work conditions of yesterday and today is
to let off the petroleum corporations and everyone down the line
participating in a long-term tragedy affecting future generations.</p>
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.culturechange.org/cms/images/stories/CerroRicoMinerosEnPotosi5inch.jpg" alt="Image" title="Image" border="0" width="367" height="291" hspace="6" />
<div align="center">Art courtesty Gratisescaro.wordpress.com</div></div>
<div>
Learning about Cerro Rico, the conical, sinister looking mountain above
the highest city in the world (at 13,500 feet) was made possible by my
hiring a taxi driver at random. First I needed to get out to the fancy
new bus station to buy a ticket to my next city, Cochabamba, for a night
departure. No more &quot;cama&quot; (sleeper) buses were available, so I got &quot;el
normal&quot; to sit up all night. After that errand we drove up to Cerro
Rico for a tour. My driver, Celso Cruzamos, had worked in the mines for
four years. He looked older than his 27 years. Toward the end of our
three hours together -- a strain on my poor Spanish but otherwise a good
experience -- Celso was asking me more questions than I was asking him.
He was
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13972-lundberg-subtle-genocide-is-revisiting-cerro-rico-bolivia-.htmlScott Lively and Bryan Fischer: Sinking to New Lowshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/TCyixfSkEI4/13971-scott-lively-and-bryan-fischer-sinking-to-new-lows.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:39:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13971-scott-lively-and-bryan-fischer-sinking-to-new-lows.html<div>by Mel Seesholtz, Ph.D.<br />
<p>After reading Elijah Friedeman’s promising,
but somewhat confusing article “<a href="http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147501246">Hey, let's stop the
gay-bashing</a>” on the American Family Association website – home of Bryan
Fischer, arguably <em>T-H-E</em> most
disgusting, hate-mongering homophobe masquerading as a “Christian” – I decided
to take some time off. Would Friedeman’s article have any effect on AFA
and Fischer?</p>
<p>Friedeman argued that “Homosexuality isn't
the biggest moral problem facing our nation. Homosexual marriage isn't the
biggest threat to traditional marriage. And homosexual activists aren't the
biggest threat to freedom. This may be tantamount to heresy to some people, but
it's true.” He ended his article with “for some reason, a lot of Christians
want to attack homosexuality exclusively. Not only is this harmful to
Christianity, it's outright wrong and runs contrary to what Jesus taught.” </p>
<div>But in between he made this bizarre
statement: “I'm sure every homosexual will soon realize the error of his ways,
because of the bombastic, invective anti-gay rhetoric coming from some
Christians. But while that compassionately virulent language is working to
change the hearts and minds of every homosexual…” One can only hope Mr.
Friedman was being sarcastic.</div>
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13971-scott-lively-and-bryan-fischer-sinking-to-new-lows.htmlThe Fed's Policy of Creating Inflation: A Massive Wealth Transferhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/99ANrfcHtkk/13970-the-feds-policy-of-creating-inflation-a-massive-wealth-transfer.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:13:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13970-the-feds-policy-of-creating-inflation-a-massive-wealth-transfer.htmlby Rodrigue Tremblay Ph.D.
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions.&quot;</p>
<p>Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd US President</p></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.&quot;</p>
<p>Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd US President</p></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>[Corruption in high places would follow as] &quot;all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.&quot;</p>
<p>Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), American 16th US President (1861-65)</p></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.&quot;</p>
<p>Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), French economist</p></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;Inflation made here in the United States is very, very low.&quot;</p>
<p>Ben Bernanke, Fed Chairman, Thursday, February 10, 2011</p></blockquote>
<p>Let us begin with some macroeconomic indicators of reference.</p>
<p>In October 2010, the world value of total production (all Gross Domestic Products or GDPs) was estimated to be $61.96 trillion U.S. dollars at current nominal prices. The U.S.GDP was estimated at $16.11 trillion or 26 % of world GDP.</p>
<p>The two largest financial markets in terms of trading values are the global foreign exchange market (all currency markets) that has an average daily turnover in global foreign exchange transactions of about $4 trillion per day, and the privately-traded and mostly unregulated world derivatives market (all the derivatives
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13970-the-feds-policy-of-creating-inflation-a-massive-wealth-transfer.htmlAll free speech systems are works in progress: Prof. Craig LaMay - Interview by Kourosh Ziabarihttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/olIidL525Qw/13969-all-free-speech-systems-are-works-in-progress-prof-craig-lamay-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:58:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13969-all-free-speech-systems-are-works-in-progress-prof-craig-lamay-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.html<div>by Kourosh Ziabari </div>
<div>
<p dir="LTR">Craig
LaMay is an associate professor of journalism at the Northwestern University.
H is a former editorial director of the Freedom Forum
Media Studies
Center and editor of
Media Studies Journal; and a former newspaper reporter. LaMay's articles and
commentaries have appeared on New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington
Post, Newsweek, Communication and the Law and a number of other media outlets.</p>
<p dir="LTR">LaMay
has published several books on journalism and mass media of which we can name Journalism
and the Problem of Privacy (2003), Commercial Transformation of the Nonprofit
Sector, with Burton Weisbrod (1998) and Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children,
Television and the First Amendment with Newton Minow (1995). </p>
<p dir="LTR">Prof.
LaMay joined me in an exclusive interview to discuss the constraints of
journalism in the United
States, freedom of speech in the EU, the
performance of local magazines as opposed to the national news outlets and the
gradual disappearance of traditional media with the emergence of new
internet-based technologies.</p>
<p dir="LTR">What
follows is the complete text of my interview with Prof. Craig LaMay of the
Northwestern University.</p>
<p dir="LTR"><strong>Kourosh
Ziabari: Dear Craig; there's a belief with regards to the mass media in the
Western countries in general, and the United States in particular, which is
undisputedly accepted by the international community: the widely-accepted
belief is that the Western media are unrestrictedly free to publish whatever
they want, to publish the viewpoints of the opponents of the government, the
political dissidents and anti-governmental activists, without being harassed.
Is it true that the mass media in the West are absolutely free to publish
whatever they want? Isn't there any implicit pressure on the media to publish
the news and analysis in a way which is favorable to the interests of the
government?</strong></p>
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13969-all-free-speech-systems-are-works-in-progress-prof-craig-lamay-interview-by-kourosh-ziabari.htmlEgypt : Social Movements ,The CIA And Mossadhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/KLCsRNB0qYk/13968-egypt--social-movements-the-cia-and-mossad.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:34:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13968-egypt--social-movements-the-cia-and-mossad.html<div>by James Petras Ph.D.<br />
<br /></div>
<div></div>
<div><strong>The Limits of Social Movements<br />
</strong><br />
The mass movements which forced the removal of Mubarak reveal both the strength and weaknesses of spontaneous uprisings. On the one hand, the social movements demonstrated their capacity to mobilize hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in a successful sustained struggle culminating in the overthrow of the dictator in a way that pre-existent opposition parties and personalities were unable or unwilling to do.<br />
<br /> On the other hand, lacking any national political leadership, the movements were not able to take political power and realize their demands, allowing the Mubarak military high command to seize power and define the &quot;post-Mubarak&quot; process, ensuring the continuation of Egypt's subordination to the US, the protection of the illicit wealth of the Mubarak clan ($70 billion), and the military elite's numerous corporations and the protection of the upper class. The millions mobilized by the social movements to overthrow the dictatorship were effectively excluded by the new self-styled &quot;revolutionary&quot; military junta in defining the political institutions and policies, let along the socio-economic reforms needed to address their basic needs of the population (40% live on less than $2 USD a day, youth unemployment runs over 30%). Egypt, as in the case of the student and popular social movements against the dictatorships of South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia, demonstrate that the lack of a national political organization allows neo-liberal and conservative &quot;opposition&quot; personalities and parties to replace the regime .They proceed to set up an electoral regime which continues to serve imperial interests and to depend on and defend the existing state apparatus .In some cases they replace old crony capitalists with new ones. It is no accident that the mass media praise the 'spontaneous' nature of the
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13968-egypt--social-movements-the-cia-and-mossad.htmlWhen &quot;Good&quot; Dictators Go Badhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/0cUw-_6IBTg/13967-when-qgoodq-dictators-go-bad.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:29:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13967-when-qgoodq-dictators-go-bad.html<div>by Normon Solomon</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>A standard zigzag of political rhetoric went for a jaunt along
Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday (Feb. 15) with a speech by Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton at George Washington University. “Iran is awful
because it is a government that routinely violates the rights of its
people,” she declared. During the last few weeks, much has changed in
the politics of the Middle East -- but not much has changed in the
politics of Washington, where policymakers turn phrases on a dime.<br />
<br />The currency is doublespeak, antithetical to a single standard of human rights.<br />
<br />And
so, the secretary of state condemns awful Iran, invoking “our sense of
human dignity, the rights that flow from it and the principles that
ground it.” But don’t hold your breath for any such condemnation of,
say, Saudi Arabia -- surely an “awful” government that “routinely
violates the rights of its people.”<br />
<br />It wasn’t long ago that Hosni
Mubarak’s regime -- with all its repression and torture -- enjoyed high
esteem and lavish praise in Washington. For Egyptians, the repression
and torture went on; for the bipartisan savants running U.S. foreign
policy, the suppression was good geopolitics.<br />
<br />As recently as Jan.
27, when Joe Biden appeared on the “PBS NewsHour,” the official U.S.
line about the despot of Egypt was enough to make Orwell’s coffin spin.
Was it time for Mubarak to go? “No,” Biden replied. “I think the time
has come for President Mubarak to begin to move in the direction that --
to be more responsive to some . . . of the needs of the people out
there.”
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13967-when-qgoodq-dictators-go-bad.htmlRestoring Economic Sovereignty: The Push for State-owned Bankshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/klUJvS6X0YQ/13966-restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:11:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13966-restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks.html<div>
<div>by Ellen Hodgson Brown </div></div>
<div>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;It is time to declare economic sovereignty
from the multinational banks that are responsible for much of our current
economic crisis. &nbsp;Every year we ship over a billion dollars in Oregon
taxpayer dollars to out-of-state and multinational banks in the form of
deposits, only to see that money invested elsewhere. It's time to put our money
to work for Oregonians.&quot;</p>
<div align="right">-- Bill Bradbury, former Oregon Senate President
and Secretary of State, quoted&nbsp; in <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/banking-people">The Nation</a></div></blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Responding
to an unfilled need for credit for local government, local businesses and
consumers, three states in the last month have introduced bills for state-owned
banks -- Oregon, Washington and Maryland – joining Illinois, Virginia,
Massachusetts and Hawaii to bring the total number to seven.</em></p>
<p>While
Wall Street is reporting record profits, local banks are floundering, credit
for small businesses and consumers remains tight, and local governments are
teetering on bankruptcy.&nbsp; There is even talk
of allowing state governments to file for bankruptcy, something current legislation
forbids.&nbsp; The federal government and
Federal Reserve have managed to find trillions of dollars to prop up the Wall
Street banks that precipitated the credit crisis, but they have not extended
this largesse to the taxpayers and local governments that have been forced to
pick up the tab.&nbsp; </p>
<p>In
January, Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576067602380461160.html">announced</a>
that the Fed had ruled out a central bank bailout for state and local
governments.&nbsp; The collective state budget
deficit for 2011 is projected at $140 billion, a mere 1% of the <a href="http://www.thenation.com/print/blog/156794/feds-backdoor-bailout-provided-33-trillion-loans-banks-corporations">$12.3
trillion</a> the Fed managed to come up with in liquidity, short-term loans,
and other financial arrangements to bail out Wall Street.&nbsp; But
Chairman Bernanke said the Fed is limited by statute to buying municipal
government
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13966-restoring-economic-sovereignty-the-push-for-state-owned-banks.htmlPalestinian September 2011 Deadline Doomedhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/unio2PyTO6I/13965-palestinian-september-2011-deadline-doomed.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:05:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13965-palestinian-september-2011-deadline-doomed.html<div>by Nicola Nasser</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>The international Quartet of the US, EU, UN and Russia on Middle East
peace and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) seem set on an
agenda that perceives September 2011 as an historical political
watershed deadline. Among the partners to the Quartet – sponsored
Palestinian – Israeli “peace process,” practically deadlocked since the
collapse of the US, Palestinian and Israeli trilateral summit in Camp
David in 2000, only the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benyamin
Netanyahu seems adamant to set a completely different agenda that
renders any endeavor by the Quartet to revive the process a non –
starter, thus dooming the September deadline beforehand as another
missed opportunity for peace making.<br />
<br />
Denying they are containment measures aimed at political survival to
avert potential Palestinian simulation in the aftermath of the regime
changes in Egypt and Tunisia, the PLO is bracing for what it declares as
indeed “the” watershed deadline in September 2011 that would make or
break its decision to resume as a partner to the “peace process.” The
PLO is reshuffling its negotiations department as well as the cabinet of
the self-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) and has called for
presidential, legislative and local elections by next September to
empower itself with electoral legitimacy ahead of that deadline,
encouraged by what the Quartet perceives as a “really important moment
of opportunity,” in the words of the Quartet’s representative the former
UK prime minister Tony Blair, which is an “opportunity” created by the
Arab popular uprisings that so far have swept to the dustbin of history
the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes, both considered for decades major
pillars of the Middle East “peace process.”
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13965-palestinian-september-2011-deadline-doomed.htmlThe Shift In State Of The Atmospherehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/Ka5hIwMDHRY/13964-the-shift-in-state-of-the-atmosphere.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Sun, 06 Feb 2011 23:00:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13964-the-shift-in-state-of-the-atmosphere.html<div>
<div align="left"></div>
<div>
<div align="left"></div>
<div align="left">by Andrew Glikson Ph.D. -&nbsp; Earth
and Paleoclimate science Australian National
University</div>
<div align="left">&nbsp;</div>
<blockquote>
<div align="left"><em><strong>What is needed are urgent measures including deep cuts in carbon emissions and down- draw of atmospheric CO2, fast-track transformation to non-polluting energy utilities (solar, solar-thermal, wind, tide, geothermal, hot rocks), global reforestation and re-vegetation campaigns, including application of biochar (pyrolysis of biomass). </strong></em><br />
</div></blockquote>
<p>The release to the
atmosphere and oceans of hundreds of billions of tons of carbon from
fossil biospheres, at the rate of &gt;2 ppm
CO2 per year, is unprecedented in geological history of Earth, excepting events such as asteroid impacts
which excavated and vaporized carbon-rich sediments, interfering with the carbon and oxygen cycles,
which led to mass extinction of species.</p>
<p>The emission
since 1750 of over 320 billion tons of carbon (GtC) from buried early
biospheres, adding more than one half of the original carbon inventory of the
atmosphere (~590 GtC), as well
as the depletion of vegetation, are triggering
a fundamental
shift in the state of
the atmosphere, tracking toward conditions
which exceed interglacial temperatures
over the last 400,000 years and are
analogous to conditions of the
mid-Pliocene ~2.8 billion years ago [1] (Figure 1),
the last decade 2000-2010 being the warmest since instrumental measurements commenced (Figure 2).</p>
<p>As stated by
Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Climate Impacts Institute [2], <em>“<strong>we're simply talking about the very life support system of this
planet</strong></em>”.</p>
<div>Lost all too often in the climate
debate is
an
appreciation of the delicate balance between the physical and chemical
state of the atmosphere–ocean–land- cryosphere
system and the evolving
biosphere, which controls the
emergence, survival and demise of species, including humans. By
contrast to Venus’ thick blanket of CO2 and SO2 atmosphere, which exerts extreme
pressure (90
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13964-the-shift-in-state-of-the-atmosphere.htmlPalestine Looks Abroad for Rational Understandinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/HfVKGH5xTIY/13963-palestine-looks-abroad-for-rational-understanding.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:37:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13963-palestine-looks-abroad-for-rational-understanding.htmlby Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D.<br />
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;What one misses in Arab and Palestinian culture is a moral and intellectual standard by which truth and falsehood can be distinguished and according to which intellectuals act regardless of profit or patronage.&quot;<br />
<br />
&quot;We Palestinians must still reconcile ourselves with our history, and with the perhaps futile sacrifices of the past century. And we must restore Palestine to its place not simply as a small piece of territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River but an idea that for years galvanized the Arab world into thinking about and fighting for social justice, democracy, and a different kind of future than the one that has been imposed on it by force and by an absence of Arab will.&quot; (Edward W. Said, Peace and its Discontents, 1996)</p></blockquote>
<div>Palestine is one but Palestinians are &quot;scattered like seeds&quot; describes the distinguish professor of comparative cultures and civilizations - Dr. Shaw Dallal, the portrait of Palestinian lives ruined by the global politics of the few. When people are dispersed by force of political violence, they encounter insurmountable challenges and seem to build–up the momentum for unity of ideas and ideals and strive with strength of faith for a just cause and survival under tormenting conditions as persist in Palestine for over 60 years after the establishment of the State of Israel. The Jewish homeland in Palestine is outcome of the British- American complacency to avoid accountability for the centuries of conscious persecutions of the Jews in Europe. There was a culture of anti-Jewish religious metaphor across the European world that spilled over to America while Europeans migrated to the new world. Ironically, Arabs are the only people and civilization that enjoys a history of extending human dignity and equal treatment to Jewish people
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13963-palestine-looks-abroad-for-rational-understanding.htmlAs the Dominoes Flow toward Israelhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/p9j6582TH3A/13962-as-the-dominoes-flow-toward-israel.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:35:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13962-as-the-dominoes-flow-toward-israel.htmlby William A. Cook, Ph.D.<br />
<br />
While the people of the mid-east rise in protest against their respective American supported dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, with the American-Israeli attempts to control Lebanon on the brink of chaos and collapse, and the &quot;peace negotiations&quot; between the Palestinians and the Israelis torpedoed by both Netanyahu and Abbas, the confusion at the State Department could be eased if it spent some time reviewing the United States' prior efforts to control the people of the mid-east, especially in Iran. It's one thing for the Secretary of State and the President to reiterate America's purported policy on human rights and another to acknowledge the hypocrisy of it. <br />
<br />
After all, our policy appears clear, &quot;We have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and free of corruption; and the freedom to live as you choose. These are human rights, and we support them everywhere,&quot; Mr. Gibbs said, speaking on behalf of the President. America supports human rights everywhere, with words … as our dutiful TV channels give Gibbs, Crowley, Clinton and Obama extensive time to demonstrate … but there are no words directed at the Palestinian people's rights. <br />
<br />
How strange to watch our CNN talking heads, especially the Israeli trained Wolf Blitzer, former editor of AIPAC's in house &quot;Near East Report,&quot; stuttering before the cameras as he recalled the fall of the Shah of Iran, America's staunch ally for 25 years, as a direct result of similar riots by Iranian civilians, and the resulting loss of America's control in Iran. He failed
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13962-as-the-dominoes-flow-toward-israel.htmlGilad Atzmon Discusses American Foreign Policy on Press TVhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/00hkQqKFX88/13961-gilad-atzmon-discusses-american-foreign-policy-on-press-tv.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:27:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13961-gilad-atzmon-discusses-american-foreign-policy-on-press-tv.html<div>by Gilad Atzmon<br />
<blockquote>Gilad Atzmon (Hebrew: גלעד עצמון‎, born June 9,
1963) is a jazz
musician, author and anti-Zionist activist who was born in Israel and
currently lives in London.<br />
<blockquote>&quot;Anti-Semite is an empty signifier, no one actually can be
an
Anti-Semite and this includes me of course. In short, you are either a
racist - which I am not - or have an ideological disagreement with
Zionism... which I have.&quot;</blockquote>
<div>He was born a secular Israeli Jew in Tel Aviv, and trained at the
Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem. His service in the Israeli military
convinced him Israel had become a militarized state controlled by
religious extremists. In 1994, Atzmon emigrated from Israel to London,
where he studied philosophy. Atzmon is an anti-Zionist who critiques
Jewish identity issues and
supports the Palestinian Right of Return as well as the establishment of
a single state in Israel/Palestine. He is a signatory to the
&quot;Palestinians are the Priority Petition&quot; which states “full and
unconditional support of the Palestinian people is a condition sine qua
non for activists to adopt.</div></blockquote></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>The American foreign policy is at cross-roads. For decades,
Washington has advertised equality and human rights in international
circles. But, at times, the U.S. has contradicted its own alleged
values, philosophy and democratic approach.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Some argue that
America's self-interest supersedes the spread of democracy worldwide.
However, there are those who say Washington's approach serves neither
the national interest of Americans, nor does it promote equality and
democracy.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
So, the question arises: who then benefits from current American policies?<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Press TV's U.S. Desk discussed the issue with Gilad Atzmon who is a political activist, musician and author in London.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Atzmon
argues that American policy is a 'total
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13961-gilad-atzmon-discusses-american-foreign-policy-on-press-tv.htmlEgypt and Tunisia – The 'arc of crisis' being radicalized!http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/EhGDlz3q6PE/13960-egypt-and-tunisia--the-arc-of-crisis-being-radicalized.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:25:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13960-egypt-and-tunisia--the-arc-of-crisis-being-radicalized.html<div>by Zahir Ebrahim </div>
<p> One can perhaps use the article &quot;<a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2011/01/unlayering-middle-east-war-agenda.html" target="_blank"><u>Unlayering the Middle East War Agenda: Making Sense of Absurdities</u></a>&quot; to make some sense of Egypt and Tunisia in some overarching context that is outside of their national boundaries. These countries are, after all, both along the <em>'arc of crisis',</em> in the <em>'global zone of percolating violence'</em> (Ibid.) – and it is percolating all right! </p>
<p> While it is too early to call Egypt and Tunisia both, but like the Green Revolution which fizzled in Iran because the Iranians astutely understood that it was a CIA sponsored colored revolution brought on by their own fifth columnists, and acted accordingly, Egypt's and Tunisia's sudden flare-up sounds to me exactly like PNA's revolt against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, elected prime minister and dictator-in-chief of Pakistan – and a thorn in the side of the United States for his independent thinking – paid for by the bucket full of overnight dollars from the PL 480 fund. </p>
<p> &quot;<em>PL-480 funds had also been released by the US. Over-night some JI workers were seen with pockets full of money and spending lavishly ... The US not only aided but also directed most of the PNA activities.&quot;</em> wrote Brig. Tirmazi, as the man on the watch for Pakistan's ISI, in his confessional autobiography <em>Profiles of Intelligence </em>(1996, <a href="http://print-humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-killed-benazir-bhutto-herownwords.html" target="_blank"><u>read excerpt</u></a>).</p>
<p> Those who don't know their history are condemned to fall to the butcher's knife already being sharpened by our own uncle toms, house negroes, and many a fifth columnist savant variously pitching 'secular humanism' vs. Islam through street revolution. These revolutions have no fundamentals to them except mob-power, and therefore, like the French Revolution, are almost always orchestrated with big money and big mobilizations to serve quite a different agenda.
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13960-egypt-and-tunisia--the-arc-of-crisis-being-radicalized.htmlMiddle East at Strategic Crossroads, U.S. as Wellhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/3ZmmT2eKTCY/13959--middle-east-at-strategic-crossroads-us-as-well.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:17:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13959--middle-east-at-strategic-crossroads-us-as-well.htmlby Nicola Nasser
<p>The Arab world is the beating heart of the overwhelmingly Muslim Middle East, and the Arab masses are angrily moving for a change in the status quo, practically dictated by the military, economic or political hegemony of the United States, which in turn is whipped by the regional power of the Israeli U.S. strategic ally. But any change in the regional status quo would place the Middle East at a strategic crossroads that is not expected to be viewed tolerantly by the U.S. – Israeli alliance, a fact which expectedly would warn of a fierce struggle to come. Despite the U.S. rhetorical defense of the &quot;universal rights&quot; in the region, it is still premature to conclude that this hegemonic alliance will allow the Arab move for change to run its course, judging by the historic experiences of the last century as well as by the containment tactics the United States is now adopting to defuse whatever strategic changes might be created by the revolting Arab masses.</p>
<p>The U.S. war on terror has preoccupied U.S. decision makers and embroiled regional rulers in their preoccupation to overlook the tinderbox of the double digit unemployment rate among Arab youth, double and in some cases triple the world average, according to the most conservative estimates, which under the U.S. – supported authoritarian regimes has been a ticking time bomb for too long. Now, the &quot;demographic tsunami to the south of the Mediterranean,&quot; as described by Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, has overtaken the west, but in particular the U.S. – Israeli alliance, by surprise, sending shock waves across the Middle East, shaking the pillars of what this alliance has taken for granted as a guaranteed geopolitical stability reinforced by the Israeli 34 – year old military occupation of the Palestinian territories,
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13959--middle-east-at-strategic-crossroads-us-as-well.htmlCan the Palestinian Authority survive? 'Our leaders are negotiating the terms of our imprisonment'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/mZ7nxiqZWE0/13958-can-the-palestinian-authority-survive-our-leaders-are-negotiating-the-terms-of-our-imprisonment.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:15:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13958-can-the-palestinian-authority-survive-our-leaders-are-negotiating-the-terms-of-our-imprisonment.html<p>by Jonathan Cook in Nazareth<br />
<br />
With the 18-year-long Middle East peace process finally pronounced dead, is the Palestinian Authority finished too?<br />
<br />
That is the question being asked by Palestinians in the wake of a week of damaging revelations that Palestinian negotiators secretly made major concessions to Israel in talks on Jerusalem, refugees and borders.<br />
<br />
The PA -- the Palestinians' government-in-the-making, led by Mahmoud Abbas -- was already in crisis before the disclosure of official Palestinian documents by Al Jazeera television last week.<br />
<br /></p>
<div>
Now, said George Giacaman, the head of the Ramallah-based research centre Muwatin, which advocates greater Palestinian democracy, the PA's &quot;back is to the wall&quot;.</div>
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13958-can-the-palestinian-authority-survive-our-leaders-are-negotiating-the-terms-of-our-imprisonment.htmlRevolutionary Change in Egypt: Internal or Made in USA? - by Stephen Lendmanhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/MDAGybph0o0/13957-revolutionary-change-in-egypt-internal-or-made-in-usa-by-stephen-lendman.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:13:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13957-revolutionary-change-in-egypt-internal-or-made-in-usa-by-stephen-lendman.htmlUS imperial policy includes regime change, affecting foes as well as no longer useful friends. Past targets included former Philippines leader Ferdinand Marcos, Iran's Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), and Iraq's Saddam Hussein, among others. According to some reports, Mubarak is next - aging, damaged and expendable.<br />
<br />
George Friedman runs Stratfor, a private global intelligence service. On January 29, he issued a special Egypt report, saying:<br />
<br />
On January 29, &quot;Egypt's internal security forces (including Central Security Forces anti-riot paramilitaries) were glaringly absent&quot; after confronting protesters forcefully for several days. Army personnel replaced them. Demonstrators welcomed them.<br />
<br />
&quot;There is more (going on) than meets the eye.&quot; While media reports focus on reform, democracy and human rights, &quot;revolutions, including this one, are made up of many more actors than (Facebook and Twitter) liberal voices....&quot; Some are, in fact, suspect, using social network sites for other than purported reasons.<br />
<br />
Like Iran's 1979 revolution, &quot;the ideology and composition of protesters can wind up having very little to do with the&quot; behind the scenes political forces gaining power. Egypt's military may be preparing to seize it. Former air force chief/civil aviation minister Ahmed Shafiq is new prime minister, tasked with forming a new government, and intelligence head Omar Suleiman is Egypt's first ever vice president under Mubarak, effectively second in command.<br />
<br />
Moreover, Defense Minister Field Marshall Mohammed Hussein Tantawi &quot;returned to Cairo after a week of intense discussions with senior US officials.&quot; He heads the Republican Guard, responsible for defending major government and strategic institutions, the symbols of entrenched power. Also back is Lt. General Sami Annan. Both men with others &quot;are likely managing the political process behind the scenes.&quot;<br />
<br />
As a result, expect more political changes, military
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13957-revolutionary-change-in-egypt-internal-or-made-in-usa-by-stephen-lendman.htmlOne More Year of Inhumanity Coming to a Close. What Happens Next?http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/yDkb4BeJ2Bg/13956-one-more-year-of-inhumanity-coming-to-a-close-what-happens-next.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Wed, 29 Dec 2010 22:30:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13956-one-more-year-of-inhumanity-coming-to-a-close-what-happens-next.html<div>
<p>
by Pablo Ouziel</p>
<p align="center"></p>
This year
the list of atrocities committed under the guise of representative
democracy is extensive, as anyone concerned in analyzing the actions of
governments in the West can ascertain. If it was our wish, we could
bombard the airwaves with images of suffering people from around the
world, and swiftly link their pain to the corrupt institutions of
government we have accepted as legitimate. With similar ease, we could
trace the wealth accumulated by a small minority of ruthless economic
elites, to their governmental bonds. But I see little need in
contributing to this exercise considering the amount of relevant
information already available. Instead, I find it more useful to
speculate about what happens next. I am fairly confident that is what
those bearing the brunt of our inhumanity must wonder. Will we end the
bombs? Will we stop the banks? Will we transform our democracies? <br />
&nbsp;<br />
What a meaningless term democracy has become when uttered under the
context of our 21st century Western reality. Do we really think the
democracy we live embodies the dream our ancestors thought they were
fighting for? I do not think it does. I think instead, that Western
democracy, the democracy of imperial expansion embodies the violence and
misery it claims to diffuse. The tragic thing is, that many Western
citizens one speaks to, make similar observations, yet, the wheel
continues to turn and its movement destroys many innocents. How can the
wheel stop, when the citizenry goes along for the ride? When there is
little will to change direction? <br />
&nbsp;<br />
Let us take for example the self-proclaimed left-wing progressives of
the United States. Imbued by arrogance and complacency, two years ago,
they went along with the message of hope communicated
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13956-one-more-year-of-inhumanity-coming-to-a-close-what-happens-next.htmlAmerica's War Veterans: PTSD and its Curehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/una_odzbe3k/13955-americas-war-veterans-ptsd-and-its-cure.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 27 Dec 2010 03:10:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13955-americas-war-veterans-ptsd-and-its-cure.html<div>by Zahir Ebrahim</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<p align="justify"> The two American websites, <a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/" target="_blank"><u>Veterans Today</u></a> and <a href="http://www.salem-news.com/" target="_blank"><u>Salem News</u></a>,
run by two former US Military veterans, contain some of the most
outstanding RealitySpeak writings by both civilians and America's war
veterans, presumably, all mostly being eagerly ingested by other
American war veterans. In full disclosure, these websites also reprint
my two cents every now and then. The Editors in chief of both websites
whom I have never met but communicate with occasionally, very generously
invited me to become Staff Writer on their respective panels, and I
politely declined in each case. I prefer my lonely voice to stay
independent – for it allows me to explore my own confusions as no one
else can.</p>
<p align="justify"> So,
exercising that independence of thought, if I may be permitted to ask
the next logical question to great penmanship and reportage by
recovering war veterans, does such RealitySpeak affect a change in
status quo?</p>
<p align="justify"> Does all this verbiage ameliorate the suffering of the bemedaled American war hero who brought my fellow Muslim men, women, and children of Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, perhaps Iran next, the 'liberation' depicted in the images?</p>
<p align="justify"> Do
the oft maligned liberators of truth from the sharp jaws of deceit,
ever impact the inflexion of hegemonic power with mere moral words and
intellectual theses which unravel the never ending lies of the hectoring
hegemons du jour?</p>
<p align="justify"> For,
if words alone could make appreciable difference to the calculus of
hegemony, then, the Ten Commandments would have surely eased mankind's
journey over the past hundred years of successive world wars and vile
deprecation of humanity. As the noted essayist and novelist Aldous
Huxley had once observed when responding to the question “What does one
do?”:</p>
<p
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13955-americas-war-veterans-ptsd-and-its-cure.htmlWhitewashing Defeat: Obama’s Indecisiveness Defines His Presidencyhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AtlanticFreePress/~3/K_-t0Zjkchw/13954-whitewashing-defeat-obamas-indecisiveness-defines-his-presidency.htmleditor@atlanticfreepress.com (Chris Cook)Mon, 27 Dec 2010 02:50:00 PSThttp://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13954-whitewashing-defeat-obamas-indecisiveness-defines-his-presidency.html<div>by Ramzy Baroud
<p>He
may still possess the poise of a confident leader and an eloquent
intellectual, but the presidency of Barack Obama is now suffering its
most difficult phase to date.</p>
<p>Certainly,
Obama cannot solely be blamed for all the factors that have stifled his
country’s chances of recovery from the failures of the Bush era. But
the man who promised the moon has now extended the abhorrent and morally
unjustifiable tax cuts for America’s wealthiest class. The “sweeping”
$858 billion tax bill was signed into law on December 17. It includes an
$801 billion package of tax cuts, extending Bush’s tax break for the
rich for two more years – at a time when the majority of Americans are
reeling under the weight of a failing economy and persistently high
unemployment. </p>
<p>Still,
the tax bill was presented by the self-assured president as “real money
that’s going to make a real difference in people’s lives.” The cuts
will help stimulate an ailing economy, he claims, despite it being the
rich who gambled with American wealth to increase their own, stimulating
a market crash that led to millions losing their small investments and
savings. All we know for sure is that the cuts will add a gigantic chunk
to an already impossible deficit of $1.3 trillion, another Obama battle
that is likely to be lost to the Republicans early next year. </p>
<p>But
this concession, and its presentation as a victory for America’s middle
classes says more about Obama’s style than the weakening of the
Democrats since the midterm elections. Even in his foreign policy
management, Obama’s approach seems to teeter between giving face-lifts
to ugly realities and postponing urgently needed action. The agent of
change has become the quintessential American politician, who is more
consumed with his chances
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</div>http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/13954-whitewashing-defeat-obamas-indecisiveness-defines-his-presidency.htmlChris Cooknonadult